It’s been a big week of changes for Instagram, for both users and businesses.

 

Waking up to a happy little surprise story from Insta Tuesday morning – Canada is finally on the in-app shopping bandwagon! Say goodbye to the wild goose-chase of actually shopping a product you fell in love with on your feed.

 

The entire experience, from browsing through to purchase can be done in-app, which totally makes sense. Jim Squires, head of business for Instagram stated, “People come to Instagram every day to discover and buy products from their favourite businesses. We want to be that seamless experience. Whether it’s a local artisan, florist or clothing store, shopping directly on Instagram has never been easier.”

 

So what does this mean for businesses? According to Instagram, over 80% of people follow at least one business account, and with a community of over 600 million users, the potential for this feature is huge. When the shopping feature is added to an account, a ‘Shop’ tab appears, which collects data on how many people are accessing these shopable items via Instagram. This feature will soon be available for paid advertising also, allowing businesses to serve these posts to users not already following the account.

 

While Instagram shopping may have stolen the thunder – not to be overlooked is the new ability to add hashtags and @ mentions within an account bio. Going hand-in-hand with the new hashtag follow feature, tapping through a bio hashtag will bring up photos that have used that specific hashtag. This being especially useful for businesses to promote a branded hashtag.

 

Thanks Instagram, for always keeping us on our toes!